Round 3

bought two nucs from Ian Coulson today. He and Marja delivered them to the house. I have decided to give Langstroth hives a chance. I paid $300 for the bees. Gave both hives sugar water to get going, and crossed my fingers.

Sugar Roll Mite Check

Went into Gibson's Hive this afternoon. Did a sugar roll test with 1/2 cup bees. Did not see any mites. Also used a capper to destroy about 30+ drone cells. Also found no mites.

Hive had 2 bars of drone brood and 7 bars of capped worker brood. Docile to work with.

Happy with their status.

Went into the hives this afternoon and everything looks good.

All three hives have lots of capped brood. Larva present as well. Each hive had one bar of drone brood.

I didn’t see eggs, but I think I just cant see them without reading glasses on, and that won’t work under the veil!

Didn’t see queens, but I think everyone is home and working hard.

It felt good to be back in the hive. None of them were aggressive, and I enjoyed it.

Dead out

It's a sad day in the apiary. I lost Lone Star.

I was worried about them last time I visited. They just weren't thriving. Not enough honey, not enough bees. Yesterday, there was LOTS of activity. Bad sign. Today I looked in and no bees.  The combs were all chewed up and the bottom filled with wax cappings and dead bees.

I went into Raven as well, and they were not nearly as aggressive as they were last time I went in. They have lots of honey, lots of pollen, and a fair amount of larva. Didn't see the queen or any eggs, but they look well set for winter.

I'll go in tomorrow and clean out the cappings, take the combs and put them in the freezer a few at a time to get rid of any pests. Then hang them up in the workshop to keep them safe til next spring. We shall fly again!

I took the opportunity to put hooks in both hives so I can weigh them to learn how they are doing without going in and bothering them.

Lone Star, with no honey and no bees, weighed 10 pounds.

Raven, with lots of honey and pollen and brood, weighed 18 pounds. Sigh. And Raven is the hive that I have the most difficulty with. Oddly enough, today they were not aggressive at all.

Somebody stung the hell out of the back of my knee today. I don't think it was a bee, but maybe it was. It is very big and red. But doesn't hurt. I dunno if it was the bees or if a spider somehow got in up there. Puzzled. 

Bombus!

This lovely big fat black and yellow bumble bee was working our California poppies hard yesterday!

Maybe a bombus californicus!

5/23/16 Inspection

Things are looking very good! Lots of activity.  Foragers headed into both hives loaded with pollen!

Raven: Went all the way through and found good amount of capped worker brood, a few drone cells, and larva. I saw, for the first time, a baby bee emerging from her cell! Triumph!! I think they are queen right!

There were a few empty bars, so I moved them on the other side of the follower board to reduce the size of the hive.

Lone Star: Also looking good with lots of capped brood, larva, and a few drone cells. I saw my second baby bee emerging!!

Hooray for the bees!!

4/18/16 Lots of action

Went into both hives and did an oxalic acid dribble. Took one bar of larva from Lone Star and put it in Raven just to increase their chances of raising a new queen and having enough worker bes.

Took a couple of pounds of honey by mistake. I didn't have a follower board on the end of Raven, and they had built comb along the wall, I removed it. I also set some bars on the truck gate, and one melted and fell over. So I brought it in too. I saved the good stuff and put the rest out for the bees to clean up.

4/15 Hive Inspection

Tom came to help me and we went though Raven. Lots of honey, lots of drones, no worker brood, no larva. It looks like the queen is gone. Damn. We did find a queen cell, empty on the end so it looked like she successfully emerged. So maybe they raised a new queen. She'll need a couple of weeks for her nuptial flight and to start laying and for those eggs to hatch and emerge. So I'll check in a couple of weeks on the 29th or after we get back from Gibson's birth.

We also did a mite check. Way too high. No ants.

Checking on Lone Star

Went half way through Lone Star today and everything looks good. I started with 27 bars, and added one more before I closed her up.

Lots of capped honey, lots of drone cells, and lots of worker brood. Also saw larva in several bars. There was one small empty queen cell. I went through 15 bars before I got stung and decided they didn't want to be bothered any more. It was about 62 degrees. They were out foraging vigorously, but I think it was too chilly for them.

There were a lot lot lot of bees.

Unfortunately, there were also ants. I'm not sure what to do. Maybe a borax ant trap on top of the bars...

Raven Hive Inspection

Went almost all the way through Raven today. I had 24 bars, with one on the opposite side of the follower board where the feeder was. It had a small comb on it that I was saving. There were bees all over it, so I added it back into the hive as we went along.

There was lots of honey, lots of brood, lots of larvae, lots of nectar. I think they are doing great. I was surprised at how many drone brood cells there were and a good number of drones moving about. I don't know if this means anything other than they are proceeding into summer. I didn't go into the last five or six bars because the bees were tired of me. Didn't see the queen, but saw her excellent work.

They're Alive!!

Got back from an eight day choir tour of Cuba and went out to check on the bees. I peeked through the window and was thrilled to see lots of bees in Lone Star! I think they may make it through the winter! Raven, as expected, had lots of bees.

There was moisture on the glass in both hives, and I'm not sure if I need to do something about that or not.

Lone Star had eaten all the sugar syrup I had left them, so I made another quart for them (3 cups sugar/1.5 cups water). When I took it out there, they weren't happy being bothered, so I put it in quickly. The one bee who was asking me to move on about my business was packing two enormous bright yellow pollen pillows under her wings, which made me immensely happy!

Raven still had syrup, so I let them be.

A good, albeit short, time in the bee yard!

If thou wilt have the favour of thy bees, that they sting thee not, thou must avoid such things as offend them; thou must not be unchaste or uncleanly for impurity and sluttiness (themselves being most chaste and neat) they utterly abhor; thou must not come among them smelling of sweat, or having a stinking breath, caused either by eating of leeks, onions, garlic or the like, or by any other means, the noisomeness whereof is corrected by a cup of beer; thou must not be given to surfeiting or drunkenness; thou must not come puffing or blowing unto them, neither hastily stir among them, nor resolutely defend thyself when they seem to threaten thee; but softly moving thy hand before thy face, gently put them by; and lastly, thou must be no stranger unto them.  In a word, thou must be chaste, cleanly, sober, sweet, quiet, and familiar; so they will love thee and know thee from all others.

--Charles Butler, 17th century beekeeper.

12/22/15: I keep deciding that Lone Star is dead, and she keeps surprising me!

It rained all day and all  night yesterday, so the bees stayed close to home. This morning I went outside and checked on them. As expected, lots of bees going in and out of Raven. But to my delighted surprise, lots of bees going in and out of Lone Star as well!

No ants in Raven, so I will probably put a feeder out there as well.

Lone Star hasn't been taking much from their feeder, but I'll check and refill if necessary.

Come on, girls! You can do it!!

Pre-Japan inspection

We leave for Japan tomorrow, and I wanted to check on the hives before we leave. I was worried about them, but I am a little encouraged now   I decided to treat them for Varroa, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. I bought two different kinds of treatments, but neither seemed right. I finally read about Oxalic Acid dribble on the Honey Bee Suite site, and that seemed doable to me. I did an Oxalic Acid dribble treatment on October 18th, but I didn't realize that you needed to open up the bars so the dribble could go in!  Doh! So I did it again on the 19th and opened the bars up. I feel very comfortable with the OA dribble as a treatment process. I am less comfortable with the sugar shake mite test, mainly because I am not confident about getting enough bees in the cup! At any rate, I finally treated. Unfortunately, I treated pretty late in the season and they were probably dealing with the mites for too long   I have been worried about Lone Star, because there just aren't very many bees. I had sort of resigned myself to losing that hive  but I inspected them today, and I am a little encouraged. There was a respectable amount of capped honey in there, there was pollen, and brood, and I saw some larvae! I saw the queen, too! There weren't very many bees, but maybe, just maybe, there will be enough to get through the winter! I hope so, because they are gentle, lovely bees   I also inspected Raven, and they were very strong. Lots of (hopefully enough!!) capped honey, good amount of pollen, brood and larvae  and I saw the queen! Lots more bees in Raven, all very purposeful   I am not worried about Raven.  Raven has always been more aggressive than Lone Star, and I wonder if they may have some Africanized genetic material. That might account for their strength against Varroa mites (since I treated so late) and their nasty demeanor. Maybe.   We have a garden box outside the kitchen window, and there is lots of basil and other herbs planted there  every day I can look outside and see the bees diving into the flowering basil. At least they are getting something to eat! It is so nice being able to see whether they have come out in the morning or are sleeping in! We will plant more bee plants next year   But on the whole, I am encouraged. I inspected both hives bare handed today. I think they calm down this time of year   I am taking honey as gifts to family in Japan, and I printed some photos of the hives and the bees and the comb to give as well.  Just looking at the pictures made me realize how much I have come to appreciate the fuzzy little beasties.    

Harvest!

Tom came over to help me go through Lone Star. Everything looked great, and he convinced me to take two very full bars, leaving 26 (I think).  It was very exciting! I cut the comb into 18 little cassettes and processed 2 half pints of honey.  I am feeling pretty good! I have bad ants in the hive and lots of yellow jackets, so I put a trap out there. In a couple of hours, there were 20 or more of the little jerks in the trap. I didn't know there were so many out there!    

Watering the bees

One of the things you have to provide for your bees is a source for water. Especially if your neighbor has a swimming pool, like mine does!

I have set up a bucket with a rope and a mop head in it. This gives the bees somewhere to land while they get the water. It's funny. They want it to be a little ways away from the hive and not visible from the hive. And they like the water to be dirty. Go figure! Here is a picture of the bucket, with some bees buzzing around.

Hive Inspection

I donned ALL my gear and inspected the hives again today. I even wore the gloves and smoked them. The smoke seemed to rile them up a little instead of settling them down, but I don't know them very well yet.

I added two empty bars to each hive. There are 14 bars in Raven. I didn't count in Lone Star, but probably the same.

I saw the Raven queen, so that was nice. She is doing a good job!

I filled the moats up again with Soy oil and topped them with cayenne as well. The dogs were interested in the soy but not the cayenne. I didn't see any ants.

Bees are EXCELLENT Teachers!

I am a true beekeeper now. I got stung twice last week. I'm not sure what I did wrong. Maybe it was too windy. The stings hurt a LOT, but the pain didn't last long. Yet another rite of passage.

But the bees taught me a GREAT lesson on Saturday! I had prepared their sugar syrup and was letting it cool on the stove. I lost track of time, and was dressed for a concert of Elijah that evening. At the last minute, I remembered the syrup and decided to just go out and give it to them. Take two minutes.

So out I went.

As I was filling the first feeder, I noticed a bee was on my sleeve, and she was trying to sting me! I brushed her off, and another one started heading in at me. I filled the feeder, grabbed the other one to fill, and a bunch of bees were dive-bombing me! I finished up fast and headed inside. They followed me all the way to the door!

Why you might ask, if you haven't been reading bee books. Or, Why you might ask, if you have been reading bee books and forgot something important.

Bears. Bears are a major predator of bees, and for thousands of years bees have protected their hives by aggressively driving bears away. That is why beekeepers wear white suits and white veils. Polar bears? No problem for bees. Black bears? Big problem!

So, they taught me an excellent lesson. Pay attention. Remember what you know. Don't go to the hives in a bear costume. 

Calendar!

OK, here is what I think the calendar may look like!

May 1st: Installed package of bees

May 6th: Released the queens

May 7th: First eggs laid?

+21 days

May 28th: First eggs hatch!

Queenright!

Tom came over today to help me examine my hives. They are both doing great!!  Woohoo!!!!
He also taught me how to flip the bar over so you can look at both sides! Look how much more comb the bees have made!!!

My bee guru, Tom!

I found the queen in both hives. She is the large dark bee with the blue paint on her. The paint makes it easier to find her. When her eggs hatch, her daughters will be smaller and darker than the bees in the hive now, to whom she is not related. I think she is elegant looking!

Can you see the Queen!

Close up of the queen. The cells with caps on them are brood cells. There are bee larva in there getting ready to hatch! If you look closely you can see larva in one of the uncapped cells as well.

 

Here is a close up of the brood comb (capped brood cells). You can see the larva curled up in a few of the open cells as well. Baby bees are coming!

All the baby bees have to be fed, so the bees are out gathering pollen and nectar. This one is on ice plant. See the pollen pompoms under her armpits?

Both hives had lively, well functioning queens who are doing their job of laying eggs. The worker bees are doing their job of building comb, filling the cells with nectar and pollen (and sugar syrup), and taking care of the eggs and larva. My hives are thriving!!

I took a short video of a bee on an ice plant flower right next to the hives. I never realized how vigorously they worked the flowers to get the pollen. Surprisingly aerobic! No lollygagging!